One of the things that I noticed right away since being in Melbourne is there isn't a shortage on restaurants. Most of them are small and non-chains (which I love)...and a lot of them have outdoor seating. Within a few blocks of our apartment there is every kind of food you could imagine and great pubs/bars. There are also tons of cafes and bakeries and chocolate shops - regardless of how delicious these look; I am going to try and keep my visits here to a minimum (starting next week)! Ha! Regardless of when you are eating, most of the 'specials' include a glass of wine. WHAT A DEAL! John Paul and I are usually red wine drinkers, but since being here we've had some really great white wines from Australia and New Zealand. I really love the character of the local eateries and it would be easy for us to be here for 2 years and never eat at the same place twice.
The few chains that we are familiar with are:
McDonalds (where they have small packets of VEGEMITE -vomit - but have a Mc Cafe with actual sandwiches, muffins, etc.), Burger King (but it goes as Hungry Jack), Subway, and TGI Fridays. Oh, just as a funny FYI - the commercials for these chains always show their chicken fillet sandwiches, but they pronounce filleT with the 'T' on the end.
Unfortunately we quickly made the realisation that they do not have 'drip coffee' here. Actually I tried to order it and the girl behind the counter looked at me like I asked her for a shot of moonshine. The good news is that you will never be considered high maintenance if you order some crazy latte. The bad news is that in the office, all they have is Instant Coffee....which I put in the same taste category as Vegemite. When we found a Starbucks in downtown Melbourne, John Paul was practically dancing in line waiting to get the Christmas blend!
Typically, it seems like most Australians drink beer or wine - I've hardly seen anyone drinking liquor (or spirits as they call it). They also don't have nearly the problem with binge drinking - go figure. The few times that we have ordered Vodka martinis the bartenders CLEARLY seem out of their element. We had to ask for olives every time....and when we did....they gave us ONE. They acted like we were greedy bastards when we asked for more.
Last weekend we went to a BBQ at one of JP's co-workers houses. We stopped in a drive through to pick up some beer to bring. OVER $30 for two 6-packs!!!! It's nuts!!! I'm not certain what this is with the currency conversion; but you are still looking at over $10 American dollers per six pack. Yikes! Looks like we may be sticking to wine. They even have a rule where you can bring your own bottle into a restaurant. Salut!
Speaking of wine...we are going to a winery this weekend. We will hopefully be stocking up on some delicious Vino. I am thinking of boycotting the beer drinking and sticking to wine since the brewing companys obviously do not have a problem with gouging their customers.
By the way....has anyone booked their flight yet? Also, be sure to join SKYPE!!!
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